Chaos Bond

Safe and Sound - Sort of

From the sofa, Blaze looked up as she turned and her eyes grew upon catching sight of a very sorry looking Silver shuffling into the room with Sonic behind him, ready to offer support if it was needed.

"Silver!" Blaze cried, her book dropping from her fingers. "Oh my- Silver! You're safe!" In an instant, she was up on her feet and had vaulted the back of the sofa, darting over and taking him by his shoulders as she hugged him.

Without saying anything, Silver wrapped his arms around her and inhaled the scent of her lavender fur, comforted beyond all relief and feeling his cares melt away when Blaze, overcome with emotion, began to very softly purr so that only Silver could feel it as his chest became damp against the cat's happy tears of relief.

It only took Amy a second to make it from the kitchen to the sitting room and another half a second to comprehend the scene. Feeling choked up, she looked between the embracing couple and her own husband.

"...What on earth happened?" she asked Sonic, her heart thumping as she realised what he must have done. "You were supposed to find Silver."

"And I did," Sonic quietly nodded, not brave enough to make eye contact with her. He gestured limply with his right hand. "Here he is."

Wiping away her tears and sniffing, Blaze pulled out of Silver's chest and put her paws on his face, holding his head and staring into his eyes.

"Are you okay?" she asked him. "You're not hurt are you?"

Silver smiled.

"Nothing a little rest won't cure," he told her. 

He'd asked to stop by a body of water on the way so that he could clean his fur of blood before being reunited with his family. Blaze's fingers were only a couple of centimeteres away from the cut on his head and he knew he'd have to tell her about it eventually but, for now, he wanted nothing more than to put her at ease.

"I'll let the others know," Amy began and then, for the first time, noticed who had gingerly tiptoed in behind the two hedgehogs. "Oh hello Big - and Froggy! You boys sit yourself down and don't wander anywhere." Amy turned towards the stairs. "Steele! Come see Daddy!" she called, dabbing at her eyes.

There was a THUD! as some plaything was dropped and little feet came pelting down the stairs, wheeling round the corner and scampering into the room. Steele stood with his ears pricked and his tail tip flicking in anticipation, perched up on the tips of his toes. He stared at his mother and father in amazement.

"Hey, there's my boy!" Silver breathed, crouching down.

As though that were the confirmation Steele needed, the kitten sprang forward and leapt into his father's arms, pushing his face as deep as it would go into his father's neck, kneading at his fluffy chest (making biscuits as it was commonly called) and pushing at Silver's chin as he alternated between purring and mewing.

"It's okay, I'm back," Silver soothed him, stroking the kitten's fur as he held him on his knees. "Sorry I left you so long. Careful of Dada's spines, son. There's a good lad."

Big, as was his polite custom, had taken a seat on the little foot rest (that looked far too small for him to be perched on) and beckoned Silver and Blaze to come and sit down too. He had a great fondness for Blaze and her family and he had been eager to help out when he had found Sonic running back with a very poorly-looking Silver. It had been Big that had carefully cleaned Silver's wounds before their return.

Amy, meanwhile, had gone back into the kitchen to get the phone and Sonic had followed her in the hopes of getting drinks for people. Having punched in some numbers, Amy leant against the wall and listened to the ringing tones as she inspected the handsome blue hedgehog trying to arrange some mugs on a tray.